Front Suspension Refresh, 5...4...3...2...

[Bludsport]

Today I decided to go ahead and do the front suspension refresh myself. I was hesitant for a while, mainly because my hands were so messed up from refinishing furniture. Jeez...what a biotch! I moved recently, and before the move, I decided to refinish some old, not so great family furniture I ended up with because none of my siblings wanted it. I guess it was from the chemicals I used like lacquer thinner, stripper, mineral spirits, stain, etc., but man my hands were raw. I had splits on my thumbs and fingers the size of the grand canyon and the only thing that helped was heavy doses of pain relieving Neosporin. Better now, so on to the front suspension.

In the exodus following my divorce about 6 years ago, I left all the tools I had been collecting for years in my old garage, so today I went to Sears and Harbor freight and bought about $500 worth of stuff to help me with the refresh. I got a great big set of Craftsman sockets and wrenches, a floor jack, some jack stands, a big heavy bench vice to install the Rogue FCAB's I got, stuffed all of it into the trunk and headed home. I doubt all of it weighed more than 200 pounds or so, excluding my dog, but you would have thought it was way more by the way my car felt on the way home. It's a good thing I got all this crap, because shocks and springs or coil-over's are definitely next on the horizon. I got some gloves too :)

Hopefully, by the end of the day tomorrow, I will have installed the new front control arms, Rogue bushings, tie rod ends, sway bar links and rubber boots. I seriously doubt I'll ever track my car, so I opted out of all the adjustable stuff for now. Next up is a rear refresh, most likely some decent coil-overs, new tires and new wheels.

Oh yea, is anyone here running the AST coil-overs? I was leaning towards the Ground Control/Koni Sport coil-over set up, but after some research, AST always comes up as a great choice for the E46. A little pricey at about $2K, but I'm thinking it would make a tremendous and welcome difference on my car's ailing suspension.
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[Vas]

Sounds like you got a nice amount of work done already.

As far as the coilovers, main reason for wanting them?

[cornercarver]

You might find some useful information in the 'Similar Threads' listed at the bottom of this page.

You'll need a spring compressor to do the front struts, and I think there's at least one specialty tool needed to remove the control arm bushings.

As for coil-overs; If you're not planning on tracking the car, there's really no point in spending the extra coin. If you just want a better look/stance, get a set of lowering springs and save yourself the cost of adjustability.

[Bludsport]

Thanks for the input guys. No, no tracking for this car, maybe a little fast road use, but nothing too aggressive. After taking another look at the AST suspension stuff, I don't think they're actually coil-overs, just dampers. The reasons for liking the AST stuff is twofold, the guys I know who still race swear by these things, and you don't need special tools to adjust them, just turn the knobs on the top and bottom. After a little more research, it appears that AST is now offering a less expensive 2-way shock, the 2000 Series for around $1,200. This is only about 300 bucks more than a setup using sport Koni's and Eibach springs.

Today's fail...I got under my car jacks today, began to sweat, then the mosquitos started in. It was around this time I decided I wasn't quite up to doing all this stuff myself. Maybe if I had a proper lift, air conditioning and could do the work while standing, but not on my back and not while wiggling around on hard, cold, dirty concrete while being chewed up by nasty little vampires. I've turned enough wrenches in my time, and for now, I'll leave it to someone who has the right equipment and does it for a living. I'll save the clean and easy mods for myself. I feel like such a puss for wimping out, but enough is enough. I'm sure the tools I bought will come in handy in the future though.

For now, I've decided to take things a step further. I'm going to collect all the parts I need for a full suspension refresh, front and rear, and then have everything installed all at once including new wheels and tires. That way, I'm sure I'll be stoked and amazed at the difference in my ride.

[Vas]

I would get some Koni yellow and call it a day imo. But if you want to lower put some spring from h&r or eibach.

[ELCID86]

^this.

[Bludsport]

I would get some Koni yellow and call it a day imo. But if you want to lower put some spring from h&r or eibach.

I was just about to do just that until I had a conversation with Sean Meyers of AST Suspension USA based in CA. I was ready to buy the AST 4100 coilovers, but Sean talked me out of them. AST just discontinued their 4100 series line and is replacing with the 5100 series that starts out at around $2,300. He was worried about replacement parts not being available in the future, and only had a few units left of the 4100's, so he felt uncomfortable moving anymore of the 4100 series units. We discussed what I was trying to achieve with my setup and then he sold me on AST's newly developed 2100 series specifically designed for fast road and street use, not for track use. I've heard nothing but great things about AST, so I ordered the set from him for $1,299.00 and he agreed to comp me on the shipping fees. Sean was traveling around the country today, but took the time to answer all of my questions, send me photos of the setup he unpacked from the box in his hotel room and handle the paperwork for the sale himself. Of course I won't know zip about this setup until I've had a chance to test it, but if this setup is anywhere near as good as AST's customer service, I'm sure I'll be pleased. AST is a class act, and I encourage everyone here to at least consider their products before buying anything else.

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[BMWCurves]

Glad you worked out with them, hopefully you're happy with their 2100 series kit. I'm a large proponent of the Koni Sport (yellow) shocks/struts and purely refreshing old bushings with Z4M units (FCABs and RTABs) for an OEM+ feel. Let us know what you think.

[Vas]

Let us know how the install goes

[Bludsport]

Glad you worked out with them, hopefully you're happy with their 2100 series kit. I'm a large proponent of the Koni Sport (yellow) shocks/struts and purely refreshing old bushings with Z4M units (FCABs and RTABs) for an OEM+ feel. Let us know what you think.

Cut me some slack cuz I'm a little, well...maybe a lot behind the curve on all the numerical nomenclature knowledge required to order the parts required to maintain, upgrade and/or improve performance on BMW's...JEESH! The selection of stuff available out there is dizzying. Lots of stuff to learn.

Help me understand my rear suspension refresh please. Like you, I'm not looking to build a track car, but somehow improve handling and reliability without sacrificing too much of the comfort level built into these cars by BMW. In your last reply to me you mentioned "Z4M units". Are you referring to the suspension parts that a BMW Z4 uses, or some other type of factory designation I don't know about?

For the rear suspension refresh, other than the new shocks I ordered, these are the parts I had planned on replacing:

+ Upper and lower rear control arm bearings/bushings
+ Rear trailing arm bushings
+ Sway bar bushings
+ Swap out OEM rear control arms for adjustable

I hadn't intended on replacing all the bushings and or mounts involved for the rear axle carrier unit, unless you think this is a good idea to do while I'm back there. My car has 69K miles on it. Is now a good time to replace these parts for the rear carrier?

Also, please let me know the best place to get the parts you mentioned.
I think the "factory +" idea is wonderful and most likely a less expensive option as well.

[BMWCurves]

I had the same feeling when I was doing my suspension refresh, that there are just so many options. For that reason, I opted for the simple route of mostly OEM parts with a few upgraded items. The Z4M parts I referenced refers to parts that fit the BMW Z4M.

Now, I'm by no means a suspension expert (far from it). You can see what I replaced at 50k miles just a year or two ago in my car in my 50k suspension refresh thread (LINK: http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?16182-Help-with-Suspension-Refresh-at-50k-miles-10-years). I replaced those parts due to either being worn or just old. I did not change the sway bar bushings since I plan at some point to change the sway bars themselves (either E46 M3 front and E46 330Cic rear or something like UUC/TMS/Hotchkis).

Someone with far more suspension knowledge will be by to lend a hand, I'm sure.